If you want to help novice learners succeed during your interpersonal mode performance tasks, you’ll have to take it easy (at first) and keep things very simple. Start by having lots of interpersonal conversations between person 1 (you: the teacher) and person 2 (the entire class together).

Here are 2 types of conversations that novice learners (even those who don’t have any L2 vocabulary foundation) can have with you:

1- Choice between two items.

Step 1 – Make sure students know what the L2 word is for 2 items. The way I would do this is by taking two items out of a surprise bag or box. (A pencil and a piece of paper, for instance) Take item one (pencil) out of the bag. Repeat the L2 word for pencil several times. Consider passing the pencil around the room and having L2 learners repeat the L2 word for pencil. Repeat the procedure for item 2 (a piece of paper).

Step 2 – Ask the entire class which item is which. Ensuring that all attention is on you, hold up the pencil and ask the following phrase in the target language, “Is this the pencil or is this the paper?” Students will most likely answer with the L2 word for pencil. Affirm their correct answer by saying the following complete phrase in the target language, “Yes. This is the pencil.” Repeat the procedure with item 2 (paper). “Is this the pencil or is this the paper?” “Yes. This is the paper.”

Step 3 – Ask an individual student which item is which. Repeat the line of questioning with individual students as opposed to the entire class.

Step 4 – Add adjectives. Pull out additional ‘surprise’ items. (i.e. A big blue pencil and a small red pencil.) Now (after establishing the L2 meaning for the adjectives) you can ask questions like, “Is this the big pencil or the small pencil?” “Is this the red pencil or the blue pencil?” “Is this pencil red and big or red and small?” Etc.

You can repeat this type of interpersonal mode questioning with a wide variety of L2 vocabulary. (i.e. “Is this the color green or is this the color blue?” “Is this the number 7 or the number 17?” “Is the mother’s name Elsa or is the mother’s name Anna?”)

When working with novice L2 learners, I think facilitating interpretive mode activities is super easy. It’s the interpersonal mode that I find more challenging. I’m jealous of foreign language teachers that get to work with intermediate or advanced level students. It seems a bit easier to launch students into L2 conversations if they have a vocabulary foundation to work with. However, when I think of facilitating interpersonal mode activities with novice learners, questions like these come to mind:

How can I help students have conversations if they have little or no L2 vocabulary foundation?

How can I stay in the target language and give comprehensible orientation regarding how to navigate the interpersonal mode activities?

How can I help novice learners stay engaged if their L2 skills only enable them to carry a 1 or 2 sentence/phrase conversation?

How can I make L2 conversations exciting when the topics of such simple conversations tends to be dull? (i.e. “What’s your name?” “How are you? “I’m fine.” etc.)

How can I teach students to have L2 conversations effectively enough to enable them to have these conversations spontaneously with other people outside my classroom?

Here are some principles I keep in mind when I try to encourage novice L2 learners to engage in the interpersonal mode:

1- Keep the conversations teacher-led and teacher-initiated at first.

Novice L2 learners aren’t going to be able to handle being sent off into groups to have L2 conversations. You might be able to get away with it if you give them instructions in L1. However if you’re trying to stay in the target language according to ACTFL’s recommendation, it’s better to keep it teacher-led and teacher-initiated at first.

Since novice learners generally lack confidence and hesitate to use the target language, I try to keep the spotlight off of any one individual student. I have interpersonal conversations with the whole class. I ask the entire class a question and ask them to respond. (see video example 1 and video example 2) Do this often. It helps build confidence. The repetition will help them understand and acquire the particular L2 component you are trying to teach.

If there is a student that shows confidence, try performing the interpersonal mode task with him or her. Reward his/her willingness to participate with something more than verbal praise. (I use classdojo.com for rewarding and redirecting while staying in the target language. See this blog post for more info.)

Don’t try to teach too much L2 too fast. L2 acquisition is a process. Don’t try to bypass important steps. Language learners need to hear the same things repeated many times in order to acquire L2. In this video example, I make the interpersonal mode activity super-simple by asking students multiple choice questions that have only 2 options.

Step 2 – I ask the class simple L2 questions like, “Is Roger a boy or a girl,” and only expect them to answer with one word. (see video clip)

Step 3 – I repeat this many times to ensure acquisition.

Step 4 – I do funny things to keep students engaged. I use humor to keep eyes on me. (see video clip)

3- Before you ask a student to respond to your question, make sure you’ve modeled the conversation plenty of times.

An effective foreign language teacher knows that he/she must encourage student self-confidence and avoid student shame/embarrassment. Once an L2 learner loses confidence it’s easy to lose their willingness to try. Avoid ‘losing’ students by making sure you’ve modeled an interpersonal mode performance task plenty of times. A novice student should feel 90-100% sure of what’s expected of them before being asked to speak aloud in the target language.

4- One way to repeat simple conversations plenty of times (and avoid boring students )is by showing engaging, targeted and simple L2 conversations modeled on video.

Every once in a while (during the course of a lesson) get the attention off of you. Find videos of other people modeling the same L2 skill that you are trying to teach. It’s even better if you can find video clips of native speakers that are the same age as your L2 students. See a video example here of how I did this during one of my lessons this year. I like to make my own L2 model conversation videos (like this), but that’s extra work. You can find plenty of examples online.

5- Once the students are comfortable with responding to the teacher’s target questions with the appropriate L2 response, allow confident students to model conversations in front of the class.

When I ask novice learners to model conversations in front of students, I like to have a script written for them on the board. It helps them feel confident that they’ll know exactly what to do when they are nervous in front of their peers.

6- Once several pairs of students have modeled the conversation in front of the class, then ask all students to pair off and perform the conversation together.

This is a little easier said than done. Think through the details of how you want the students to pair up. Think through where they will stand. Think through what they will do when they’re done. I’ll share more ideas on how to do this in future posts.

How about you? How do you make the interpersonal mode as easy as possible for your novice L2 learners? Share comments below.

Part 1 – Making The Interpersonal Mode As Easy As Possible For Novice Learners

P.S. Here’s a good blog post from a Latin teacher (@silvius_toda) who stays in the target language. (An approach to teaching Latin that I think is wonderful!) The blog shares detailed strategies for how to approach the first weeks of L2 teaching.

Here are some pictures of what I have on my walls. Underneath the pictures you’ll find descriptions of how I use it to stay in the target language.

los meses del año

I keep a list of the months of the year posted on the side of my whiteboard. I refer to them everytime my students have to fill out the heading (in the target language) on the top of their papers. I like highlighting the current month (notice ‘septiembre’ in pink) to help students easily identify the answer to questions like, “What month are we in?” during routines like this one. (video post of a product I use for my calendar routine).

¿Qué hora es?

lista de los números en español

los colores en español

I like to have commonly used L2 questions and answers on my walls. It helps reduce the amount of times students have that clueless look on their face when I ask them a question. If they don’t know how to respond, I can quickly point to the wall that has the appropriate reference tool for them.

A card like this one is on the corner of every student desk. Students are given a number on a flash card when they arrive at class. They must take their flash card and match it to the corresponding written number on the corner of the desk. This becomes their assigned seat for the day. (Other routines for upper elementary L2 learners)

una alfombra de colores

I chose this rug for my room because it had distinct and bold color spaces. I can ask students to walk to (or sit on) whatever L2 color I say. It’s great for giving and responding to directions in the target language. (Click here, here and here for some video clips on learning the colors in Spanish)

días de la semana

The days of the week are posted on the whiteboard so students can easily answer calendar routine questions like, “What day is it?” and, “What day was yesterday?”

What do you have up in your foreign language classroom? How does it help you and your students stay in the target language?

Interpretive Mode…it’s a nice safe place for novice students to start their language learning journey. It’s also a non-threatening way to introduce more experienced students to new aspects of L2.

If you want to be a confidence builder instead of a confidence crusher, let your novice students spend plenty of time in the interpretive mode.

Confidence is such an important thing for L2 learners to have. However, if a foreign language teacher is not careful, she can easily extinguish any bit of confidence a novice speaker has gained. Teachers must hold in balance the need to create communicative tasks that are challenging but not overwhelming. Teachers should do everything they can to help their students succeed.

If you find that your students are consistently hesitating to participate during interpersonal mode activities, consider giving them more practice with the interpretive mode.

The interpretive mode can:

be less threatening than interpersonal and presentational mode activities.

allow shy students to participate without having to speak.

allow a teacher to build a reluctant student’s confidence by letting him be praised for correct answers without opening his mouth (which can be a risky thing).

help students get repeated practice, which they need to become familiar with new (and very unfamiliar sounding) L2 vocabulary

There are different ways for teachers to give their L2 students interpretive mode practice and stay in the TL:

1- Student chooses between a few different pictures after the teacher says or shows the L2 word/phrase. (Video example)

2- Student chooses between a few different words/phrases after the teacher shows a picture. (Video example)